June is here, and it’s time for the marriage quiz. Do not, I repeat, do not get married without asking your prospective spouse these four crucial questions.

What is your political party?

Do you like to go camping?

Do you enjoy oatmeal?

What do you do with your socks after you take them off at night?

I have been happily married for 43 years – to the same guy, I might add – and I can vouch for this little quiz. We settled the important issues up front. Bliss followed.

Naturally, you might not want the same answers to the questions that I wanted. Life would be unspeakably dull if we were all the same.

Had I married a Republican, oatmeal-eating, camper who shot his dirty socks any old place, I would probably be in jail right now for attempted murder. My advice to June lovebirds is be pragmatic first, romance will follow. Unfortunately, most of life is not spent in bed.

Cleo Laine, the amazing British singer, introduces her spouse of many years as “my husband, my lover and my best friend”. I’m with you, Cleo.

Greetings and welcome...

The Suitcase Lady Blog is now in its thirteenth year. I am obviously a believer in these words from E. B. White. "We should all do what, in the long run, gives us joy, even if it is only picking grapes or sorting the laundry." Thank you for reading the writing that I delight in doing.